The Association Between Engagement and Weight Loss Through Personal Coaching and Cell Phone Interventions in Young Adults: Randomized Controlled Trial (Preprint)
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2018-03-22
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Abstract
Understanding how engagement in mobile health (mHealth) weight loss interventions relates to weight change may help develop effective intervention strategies.
OBJECTIVEThis study aims to examine the (1) patterns of participant engagement overall and with key intervention components within each intervention arm in the Cell Phone Intervention For You (CITY) trial; (2) associations of engagement with weight change; and (3) participant characteristics related to engagement.
METHODSThe CITY trial tested two 24-month weight loss interventions. One was delivered with a smartphone app (cell phone) containing 24 components (weight tracking, etc) and included prompting by the app in predetermined frequency and forms. The other was delivered by a coach via monthly calls (personal coaching) supplemented with limited app components (18 overall) and without any prompting by the app. Engagement was assessed by calculating the percentage of days each app component was used and the frequency of use. Engagement was also examined across 4 weight change categories: gained (≥2%), stable (±2%), mild loss (≥2% to <5%), and greater loss (≥5%).
RESULTSData from 122 cell phone and 120 personal coaching participants were analyzed. Use of the app was the highest during month 1 for both arms; thereafter, use dropped substantially and continuously until the study end. During the first 6 months, the mean percentage of days that any app component was used was higher for the cell phone arm (74.2%, SD 20.1) than for the personal coaching arm (48.9%, SD 22.4). The cell phone arm used the apps an average of 5.3 times/day (SD 3.1), whereas the personal coaching participants used them 1.7 times/day (SD 1.2). Similarly, the former self-weighed more than the latter (57.1% days, SD 23.7 vs 32.9% days, SD 23.3). Furthermore, the percentage of days any app component was used, number of app uses per day, and percentage of days self-weighed all showed significant differences across the 4 weight categories for both arms. Pearson correlation showed a negative association between weight change and the percentage of days any app component was used (cell phone: r=−.213; personal coaching: r=−.319), number of apps use per day (cell phone: r=−.264; personal coaching: r=−.308), and percentage of days self-weighed (cell phone: r=−.297; personal coaching: r=−.354). None of the characteristics examined, including age, gender, race, education, income, energy expenditure, diet quality, and hypertension status, appeared to be related to engagement.
CONCLUSIONSEngagement in CITY intervention was associated with weight loss during the first 6 months. Nevertheless, engagement dropped substantially early on for most intervention components. Prompting may be helpful initially. More flexible and less intrusive prompting strategies may be needed during different stages of an intervention to increase or sustain engagement. Future studies should explore the motivations for engagement and nonengagement to determine meaningful levels of engagement required for effective intervention.
CLINICALTRIALClinicalTrials.gov NCT01092364; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01092364 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/72V8A4e5X)
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Lin, Pao-Hwa, Steven Grambow, Stephen Intille, John A Gallis, Tony Lazenka, Hayden Bosworth, Corrine L Voils, Gary G Bennett, et al. (2018). The Association Between Engagement and Weight Loss Through Personal Coaching and Cell Phone Interventions in Young Adults: Randomized Controlled Trial (Preprint). 10.2196/preprints.10471 Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/28707.
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Scholars@Duke

Pao-Hwa Lin
My research interest lies generally in the area of dietary patterns and chronic diseases including hypertension using controlled feeding study and lifestyle intervention designs.
Two major controlled feeding clinical trials that I was involved in include the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) Study and the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension-Sodium (DASH-Sodium) Study. In addition to being an active member for the diet committee for DASH, I also function as the chair of the diet committee for the DASH-Sodium study. I am familiar with the development and operation of a controlled feeding study, which means the process of study design, development of questionnaire/forms for data collection/monitoring, development of quality assurance procedure, and data analysis.
I've also helped with the design and implementation of the lifestyle behavioral intervention program for the Hypertension Improvement Project (HIP), PREMIER clinical trial, Weight Loss Maintenance trial (WLM), ENCORE study, and the Cell Phone Intervention for You (CITY) trial.
Key words: Diet, controlled feeding study, mineral, blood pressure, nutrition.

Steven C. Grambow
I am an academic statistician with a focus on educational leadership and administration, teaching, mentoring, and collaborative clinical research. I serve as the director of multiple education programs, both formal degree programs and certificate-based training programs. I also provide administrative oversight of multiple graduate degree programs and educational initiatives focusing on clinical and translational science workforce development at the student, staff, and faculty levels.
I have many years of experience with in-person and online teaching across a variety of teaching venues (formal degree programs, domestic and international certificate-based training programs, faculty development seminars, residency/fellowship training programs) and health sciences audiences (medical students, residents, fellows, faculty, and other health professionals), including more than 21 years as a statistics course director in the Duke Clinical Research Training Program.
As a collaborative scientist I have experience with a broad range of clinical research areas and clinical research designs, including observational studies, epidemiology investigations, and randomized clinical trials, including those utilizing web, mobile, and telemedicine-based health behavior interventions. I have collaborated on projects spanning a broad range of clinical research areas, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS), prostate cancer, quality of colorectal cancer care, osteoarthritis, lifestyle modification through weight loss, CVD risk reduction through hypertension control, smoking cessation, and substance abuse recovery.

John Gallis
Overview
John currently collaborates with researchers and methodologists at the Duke Global Health Institute and the Duke Department of Biostatistics & Bioinformatics. His varied research experience includes design and analysis of weight loss-related randomized controlled trials (RCTs), design and analysis of cluster randomized trials (CRTs), and implementation of the multiphase optimization strategy (MOST). Recently, he has primarily worked with researchers examining the effects of interventions on maternal mental health and child health and development. His research interests include the design of CRTs and analysis methods for clustered data, among many other interests.
Education
Master of Science (Sc.M.) in Biostatistics. Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Mathematics: Southern Utah University
Links:
LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-gallis-2258b843/
Duke website: https://sites.duke.edu/johngallis/

Bryan Courtney Batch
Type 2 Diabetes, Obesity/Overweight, Behavior change, Non-pharmacologic intervention, Health disparities

Leonor Corsino
Dr. Leonor Corsino is a Board- Certified Adult Endocrinologist, an experienced physician-scientist, and an organizational and health professional education leader. She offers an extensive and diverse leadership background with successfully implementing innovative clinical, research, and workforce development and education programs. Her expertise and strengths lie in her diverse portfolio that expands from basic science to clinical and community-engaged research, innovative curriculum development, successful clinical program implementation, and collaborations.
Dr. Corsino's research focuses on diabetes, obesity, and related complications and health disparities, with a particular interest in Hispanic/Latino populations. She has successfully led and extensively collaborated with investigators locally, nationally, and internationally. Her research and contribution have been recognized locally and nationally with many awards, including the NIH/NIDDK Network of Minority Health Research Investigators medallion.
Dr. Corsino has extensive leadership experience, including her current roles as a member of the Executive Committee Member and Associate Director of the Duke School of Medicine Masters of Biomedical Sciences (MBS), Co-Director for the Duke Clinical and Translational Science Institute - Community Engagement Core / Community-Engaged Research Initiative (CERI) and Associate Dean for Students Affairs/Advisory Dean Duke School of Medicine MD program.
She is the former Co-Director, Education and Training Sub-core of the Duke Center for REsearch to AdvanCe Healthcare Equity, Director of the Duke Population Health Improvement Initiative Program, Associate Chair for the Department of Medicine Minority Recruitment and Retention Committee, and Associate Director for the Duke School of Medicine Office of Faculty Mentoring Training.
Dr. Corsino's leadership led to the successful development and implementation of unique and innovative programs, including the Duke MBS program selective curriculum, the REACH Equity Summer Undergraduate Research Program, the CTSI/CERI Population Health Improvement Award, E-library, consultation services, and the interactive platform for the Duke Population Health Improvement Program.
Her visionary and innovative initiatives have enhanced patient care, population health, and the recruitment, training, development, and support of health professions students, residents, fellows, and junior faculty, having a significant, palpable, impact on the diversity of health profession workforce and health disparities research.

Laura Pat Svetkey
Laura P. Svetkey, MD MHS is Professor of Medicine/Nephrology, Vice Chair for Faculty Development and Diversity in the Department of Medicine. She is also the Director of Duke’s CTSA-sponsored internal career development award program (KL2) and the Associate Director of Duke’s REACH Equity Disparities Research Center, in which she also leads the Investigator Development Core.
Dr. Svetkey has over 30 years of experience in the investigation of hypertension, obesity, and related areas, conducting NIH-sponsored clinical research ranging from behavioral intervention trials to metabolomics and genetics, with a consistent focus on prevention, non-pharmacologic intervention, health disparities and minority health. Her research has affected national guidelines, having served on the 2013 national Hypertension Guideline Panel (JNC) and the Lifestyle Guideline Working Group. She is an American Society of Hypertension certified hypertension specialist, and a member of the Association of American Physicians (AAP). She is the Associate Director, Core Director and Project PI of Duke’s NIH-sponsored REACH Equity Disparities Research Center (PI: Kimberly Johnson).
As Department of Medicine Vice Chair for Faculty Development and Diversity, she implements a wide range of programs to enhance the experience and advancement of faculty and trainees, with particular emphasis on those from racial and ethnic groups under-represented in medicine, and women.
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